All Is Not What It Seems In Sweden
American Conservative,
by
Eva Johannissen
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
4/29/2020 10:07:37 AM
Sweden has been regularly cited in American media as a country that chose an approach to the Covid-19 pandemic different from that of the U.S. and the European countries. There have been pictures of Swedes crowding into outdoor restaurants, enjoying sunny early spring weather. Streets in central Stockholm have been shown looking “normal,” although the density of shoppers and pedestrians had been exaggerated through tele-lens photography. These news reports seemed to suggest social life little affected by the pandemic, as if Sweden had taken a more relaxed approach to the virus than other countries. (Snip)However, the impressions created have been largely misleading.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
earlybird 4/29/2020 10:10:53 AM (No. 395290)
FTA:
Nevertheless, in this country, where public television and radio wholly dominate reporting and opinion-molding, the general population has all along been very favorable to the CHS. Criticisms of measures taken or not taken have been quickly made the object of media and public outcry.
Imagine if NPR and Public Television (the actual state media) were the only sources for news? We are close to that - our lamestream media isn’t much better - but not quite there yet...
13 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
BRDG 4/29/2020 10:26:27 AM (No. 395313)
How about some numbers. Infections? Deaths? Jobs? Debt?
All the prose and praise are irrelevant without FACTS for comparison.
13 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
planetgeo 4/29/2020 10:29:24 AM (No. 395318)
This article does a good job of revealing some of the nuances of how Sweden is actually dealing with their epidemic, describing some of the real issues (hospital/ICU contention, business closures and bankuptcies, etc.) to correctly dispel the notion that their approach is "relaxed."
But what the article doesn't dispel is the fundamental difference between the Swedish approach and the US approach (except for a handful of wise and courageous states)...namely, that they are mainly using "recommendations" for prudent measures as opposed to hard "orders." Huge difference. That's exactly what we should be doing here in all but the relatively few and clearly identifiable "hotspots" (big urban centers, and eldercare facilities).
They are taking some limited short-term risk for slightly higher mortality for at-risk groups, in order to gain long-term herd immunity. I would take that risk. And I believe the vast majority of Americans would too.
Give us recommendations. End the orders and the arrest of people in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and playing in parks.
17 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 4/29/2020 11:11:51 AM (No. 395370)
Once again, we discover that the Enemedia do not provide an accurate reporting of what is going on.
A very interesting report by a Swede - and unsurprisingly, it is far different than previous information.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 4/29/2020 11:28:24 AM (No. 395405)
No doubt about it, death panels are in our future.
5 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
mean Gene 4/29/2020 1:25:13 PM (No. 395543)
One of the things that seemed to slow the Swedish curve down was the fact that about 50% of all Swedes live alone anyway.
It's a form of almost complete self-isolating.
But now Sweden is catching up.
And their treatment of the elderly is much to blame.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Citoyen 4/29/2020 1:42:55 PM (No. 395558)
Interesting to hear from a native. Nonetheless shutdowns in Sweden appear to be voluntary imposed by the private sector rather than the government. When the dust settles the Swedish way will be judged superior to what has gone on here and in Western Europe. The deaths there are aligned with other European countries and here. The Swedish leaders have spines of steel. Trump didn’t.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 4/29/2020 2:00:46 PM (No. 395567)
It can be misleading to look at Sweden's policy in isolation. While nearby countries have a lower death rate, Holland and Ireland are comparable to Sweden's rate of 244 deaths per million. UK, Spain, Italy and France have much worse rates than Sweden. Belgium's rate is one of world's worst at 647 deaths/million. Angola is one of the ''best''.
1 person likes this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Skeptical1 4/29/2020 2:42:04 PM (No. 395586)
When I looked at the stats a couple of days ago, Sweden's per capita death rate was five times that of neighboring Norway. I thought that I was comparing like with like, and that Sweden's higher rate was due to their so-called relaxed approach. This piece calls that glib assumption into question. Time to do a little re-thinking. Thanks for posting.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Anti_democRAT 4/29/2020 3:34:48 PM (No. 395623)
the usa had something like 8 states with minimal restrictions compare those to the 42 or so states with the fascist governors to see the result of shelter in place.
1 person likes this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 4/29/2020 5:43:14 PM (No. 395690)
Population density is a huge factor, too. And issues like having subways, trams, buses and how much of your population is jammed into those 'disease exchanges' each day.
LOTS of variables in this thing.
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 4/29/2020 7:21:46 PM (No. 395775)
That's a really interesting tidbit, #9. SInce there is a lot of similarities....doesn't seem like Sweden's approach is so good, does it?
I'd like to know what Norway did, in some detail.
1 person likes this.
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